"Civil and public law" summary

Civil and public law differ a lot and these differences are clear in law systems of all countries. Public law solves problems between people and the state or between states and civil law solves problems between people within a country. Civil law categories are contracts, torts, trusts, probate, family law. Crimes, constitutional and international law are the categories of public law. Codified systems are modern inventions in todays law. Procedures of civil and public law are different.
Civil actions are started bu individual people. A plaintiff is a party who brings a civil action. The party against whom civil action starts is called a defendant. The court weighs all evidences and decides what is the most probable in a civil case. Such cases usually finishes deciding what amount of money or damages should a defendant pay to the plaintiff.
Criminal actions as usual are started by the state. The party who brings a criminal action is called a prosecution. Other party like in a civil case is a defendant. The guilt of a criminal must be proven beyond reasonable doubt. The standards of proof are high in a criminal action, because the defendant could be sentenced to pay a fine and even jailed or executed.
There are some contacts between civil and criminal law. If the loser of a civil case refuses to pay a fine or to award damages, he can be prosecuted and even jailed. In some countries people can complain about the violention of the human rights in some criminal cases.